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S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY- BULLETIN NO. 90, PART III. 



B. T. GALLOWAY, Chief of Bureau. 



PEPPEBMINT. 



ALICE HENKEL, 
Assistant, Drug-Plant Investigations. 



Issued December 28, 1905. 




WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
1905. 






1/ 



Monograph 



1M* 8 1907 



CONTENTS. 



Description 

Countries where grown 

Peppermint cultivation in the United States ' 

Cultivation 

Conditions injurious to crop 

Harvesting and distillation 10 

Description of still 

Peppermint oil and menthol 

Export of peppermint oil ^ 

Prices of peppermint oil 

3 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Page. 
Fig. 1. Peppermint ' ' runners. ' ' showing method of propagation _ . . . 6 

2. Leaves and flowering top of peppermint 6 

3. Peppermint still (after Dewey, in Bailey's Cyclopedia of American 

Horticulture) 12 

4 



B. P. 1-189. 

PEPPERMINT/' 



DESCRIPTION. 



One of the most important essential oils produced in the United 
States is distilled from the peppermint plant and its varieties. The 
three kinds of mint grown in this country for the distillation of pep- 
permint oil are the so-called American mint {Mentha piperita L.), 
the black mint (Mentha piperita vulgaris Sole), and the white mint 
(Mentha piperita officinalis Sole), the two last named being varieties 
of the American mint. 

The American mint, although introduced from England many 
years ago, is so called from the fact that it has long been cultivated 
in this country, and the name " State mint " has been applied to it in 
the State of New York for the same reason. 

The peppermint, or American mint, is now naturalized in many 
parts of the eastern United States, occurring in wet soil from the New 
England States to Minnesota, south to Florida and Tennessee. It is 
an aromatic perennial belonging to the mint family (Menthacese), 
and propagates by means of its long, running roots (fig. 1). The 
smooth, square stems are erect and branching, from 1 to 3 feet in 
height, bearing dark-green, lance-shaped leaves, which are from 1 to 
•1 inches long, and from one-half to 1 inch wide. The leaves are 
pointed at the apex, rounded or narrowed at the base, sharply 
toothed, smooth on both sides, or with hairy veins on the lower sur- 
face. The flowers are borne in whorls in dense, terminal spikes: they 
are purplish, with a tubular, five-toothed calyx, and a four-lobed 
corolla. (Fig. 2.) 

«In response to a steady demand for information relating to the peppermint 
industry, .Miss Alice Ilenkel. Assistant in Drug-Plant Investigations, has been 
requested to bring together the most important facts regarding the history. 
culture, and utilization of the peppermint plant. The information here pre- 
sented has been obtained in large part from scattered articles on the subject, 
and in part from experience with the plant in the Testing Gardens of The Depart- 
ment of Agriculture. 

Rodney H. True. Physiologist in Charge. 

Office of Drug-Plant Investigations, 

Washington, l>. C, October /',, 190-5. 

5 



PEPPERMINT. 




Fig. 1. -Peppermint "runners," showing method of 
propagation. 



The two varieties mentioned are closely related botanically, al- 
though in general appear- 
ance they are quite differ- 
ent. The variety known 
as black mint {Mentha 
piperita vulgaris) has pur- 
ple stems and slightly 
toothed, dark-green leaves, 
while the white mint 
{Mentha piperita offici- 
nalis) has green stems, 
with brighter green leaves, 
which are more lance- 
shaped and more deeply 
toothed. Black mint is much more hardy and productive than either 
the American mint or the white mint, 
and is grown on nearly all pepper- 
mint farms in this country. The white 
mint, which produces a fine grade 
of oil, is rarely cultivated on a com- 
mercial scale in this country on ac- 
count of its inability to withstand the 
climate and its smaller yield of essen- 
tial oil. 

The oils spoken of as Japanese and 
Chinese " peppermint " oils are not ob- 
tained from the true peppermint plant, 
but are distilled from entirely different 
species, namely, Mentha arvensis piper- 
ascens Malinvaud and Mentha arvensis 
gldbrata Holmes, respectively. 

COUNTRIES WHERE GROWN. 

The most important peppermint - 
producing countries are the United 
States, England, and Japan. Pepper- 
mint is grown on a smaller scale in 
Germany, France, Italy. Russia. China, 
and southern India. 

In Japan, peppermint cultivation 
is said to have been undertaken 
before the Christian era. The plant 
grown there is not, as already 
stated, the peppermint cultivated in 
our country, but Mentha arvensis piperascens, which is entirely dis- 




Fig. 2 



-Leaves and flowering top 
peppermint. 



CULTIVATION IN THE UNITED STATES. 7 

tinct from the true peppermint, not only botanically but also in taste 
and odor. 

Peppermint is cultivated on many drug farms in England, espe- 
dally at Mitcham, the middle of the eighteenth century marking the 
beginning of peppermint cultivation in that country. Up to L805, 
however, there were no stills at Mitcham. and the crops obtained 
there were sent to London for distillation. About L850, at which 
time the peppermint industry in England was at its height, the effect 
of American competition began to he felt, and caused a decided 
check in the production. 

PEPPERMINT CULTIVATION IN THE UNITED STATES. 

Wayne County. X. Y., in 1816, was the first locality in this country 
to distill peppermint on a commercial scale. The supply of root- 
stocks was obtained from the wild plants found growing along the 
banks of streams and brooks. Adjacent counties soon undertook the 
cultivation of peppermint, but Wayne County was then, and is now. 
the principal peppermint district in New York. 

The cultivation of peppermint was extended to Ashtabula, Geauga, 
and Cuyahoga comities in Ohio, and also to northern Indiana. Roots 
were taken from Ohio into St. Joseph County, Mich., the first plan- 
tation being made on Pigeon prairie in 1835. Other plantations in 
St. Joseph County were established the following years, and adjoin- 
ing counties soon took up the cultivation of peppermint, and south- 
western Michigan has been for thirty-five years or more the greatest 
peppermint-producing section in the United States. 

About 1844 an interesting peppermint-oil monopoly a was under- 
taken by a New York firm, which seems to have put an end to pepper- 
mint cultivation in Ohio, for none of the counties just mentioned 
has since been heard from as a peppermint-producing section. 

The first step taken by this New York firm in its efforts to con- 
trol the peppermint-oil market was to send a representative to 
Liverpool, England, to ascertain the amount annually demanded by 
that market, which was found to be about 12,000 pounds. This done, 
another agent was sent West to determine the amount produced annu- 
ally, with the result that it was found that the farms in New York 
did not produce enough oil for their purposes, the plantations in 
Ohio too much, while those in Michigan seemed to produce just about 
the right amount to satisfy the Liverpool demand. A contract was 
then entered into by this agent with the producers in New York and 
Ohio " whereby he bound them under heavy penalties to plow up 
their mint fields and destroy the roots, and not plant any more mint. 
or sell or give away any roots, or produce or sell any mint oil for the 

aProc. Amer. Pharm. Assoc, 7 : 44!t— ir>!) (1858). 



8 PEPPERMINT. 

period of five years." For this wholesale destruction of their mint 
fields the producers received a bonus of $1.50 per acre. Next a con- 
tract was made by the agent with the producers of St. Joseph County, 
Mich., agreeing to pay them $2.50 a pound for their mint oil. every 
ounce of the mint oil to be delivered for a period of five years to the 
agents named in the contract. They also were prohibited during 
this period from extending their plantations and from selling roots 
to anyone. The producers held to these contracts for about three 
years, after which period the New York firm was not so anxious to 
enforce them, having, in the meantime, acquired a large fortune 
through its peppermint-oil monopoly. 

Since that period the area devoted to peppermint cultivation in 
Michigan has steadily increased, and northern Indiana, with its prin- 
cipal centers of production in St. Joseph. Steuben, and La Grange 
counties, continues to place on the market a considerable quantity of 
oil. Ohio seems to have abandoned peppermint cultivation, at least 
on a commercial scale, and Xew York, for a number of years and until 
very recently, had greatly reduced the area under peppermint, thou- 
sands of acres formerly devoted to this crop having been given over 
to sugar beets, onions, and celery. In 1889 Wayne County. X. Y.. 
had 3,325 acres of peppermint, whereas in 1899 there were only 300 
acres. In 190.). about 933 acres were under cultivation. 

Special canvassers appointed by the State of Michigan" made a 
canvass of 299 growers in the peppermint district in that State, cover- 
ing 39 townships in nine counties (Allegan, Berrien, Branch. Cass, 
Kalamazoo, Oakland, St. Joseph, St. Clair, and Van Buren), and 
the total number of acres under peppermint cultivation, the number 
of pounds of oil distilled, and the average number of pounds per acre, 
as ascertained by this canvass, for the years 1900, 1901, and 1902, are 
as follows: 



[terns. 1!«ki. 1901. 1902 



1900. 


1901. 


2,112 

47,6284 

22. 5 


:.'. 7824 

63,7181 

23. 9 



Total number of acres grown. 2.112 2,7824 6,400f 

Total number of pounds distilled 47,6284 63,718f 82,4204 

Average number of pounds per acre - 22. ■"> r_'H. i» 12. 8 



CULTIVATION. 

Peppermint cultivation is most profitable on muck lands, such as 
are now used in Michigan for this crop and for celery and cranberry 
culture. These muck lands were formerly marshes and swamps, 
which have been reclaimed by draining, plowing, and cultivating, 
the swamp vegetation having been thus subdued, and the decayed 

a Twentieth Annual Report of the Bureau of Labor of the State of Michigan. 
1903, pp. 4: > .S-447. 



CONDITIONS INJURIOUS TO CROP. 9 

vegetable matter resulting in a very black soil which is most admir- 
ably adapted to mint cultivation. Formerly peppermint was grown 
exclusively on upland soil in Michigan, but it is a very exhausting 
crop on such land. Only two crops can be obtained from upland 
plantations, and after the second year's harvest the land is plowed and 
a rotation of clover, corn, etc.. is practiced for five years before pep- 
permint is again planted. But on the rich muck land peppermint 
can be grown year after year for six or seven years, the land being 
plowed up after each crop is harvested, and the runners turned under 
to form a new growth the succeeding year. The ground is harrowed 
in autumn and again in spring, and carefully weeded. Peppermint 
will grow, however, on any land that will produce good crops of corn, 
the ground being prepared by deep plowing and harrowing. 

In Michigan" the land is plowed in the autumn, and early in spring 
it is harrowed and marked with furrows about 3 feet apart. The 
roots selected for planting are from one-eighth to one-quarter of an 
inch thick, and from 1 to 3 feet long; and the workmen engaged in 
" setting mint.*' as the process is called, carry these roots in sacks 
across their shoulders and place them in the furrows by hand, cover- 
ing the roots with one foot and stepping on them with the other. 
The roots are planted so close together in the furrow as to form a 
continuous line. An expert workman can plant about an acre in 
a day. 

In about two weeks the young plants will make their appearance. 
and are carefully hoed and cultivated until July and August, when 
the plants have usually sent out so many runners as to make further 
cultivation difficult. The crop is cultivated with horse cultivator-, 
but if the land was very weedy in the first place, the weeds will 
have to be pulled by hand. It is very necessary that the land be free 
from weeds, as any collected with the peppermint crop will seriously 
injure the quality of the oil. 

It may be interesting to note here that on muck lands, when 
necessary, the horses are usually provided with mud shoes to prevent 
their sinking into the soft, wet ground, these mud shoes consisting 
of wide pieces of iron or wood about !) by 10 inches, fastened to the 
hoofs and ordinary shoes by means of bolts and straps. 

CONDITIONS INJURIOUS TO CROP. 

Cold and wet weather or extremely dry periods have a very unfa- 
vorable effect on the mint crop. Insect enemies also tend to cut down 
the mint harvest — grasshoppers, crickets, and cutworms sometimes 
doing considerable damage. A rust, causing the foliage to drop off 

a Twentieth Annual Report of the Bureau of Labor of the State of Michigan, 
1903, pp. 438-447. • 



10 PEPPEKMINT. 

and leaving- the stems almost bare, is apt to follow if very moist 
weather occurs toward the latter part of the season. Weeds are 
especially to be avoided in a mint field, since, as stated, the quality 
of the oil will be seriously impaired if these are harvested with the 
peppermint. The weeds generally found in a peppermint field are 
Canada fleabane (Leptilon canadense), fireweed {Erechtites hieraci- 
/<>//'</). giant ragweed (Ambrosia trifida), pennyroyal (Hedeo^na 
pulegioides) , Eaton's grass (Eatonia pennsylvanica) , June grass 
(Poa pratensis), and other low grasses. 

HARVESTING AND DISTILLATION. 

The first crop of mint is harvested in the latter part of August, 
when the plants are in full flower, and the gathering continues until 
about the middle of September, the stills running night and day 
until all the mint is disposed of. The first crop is usually cut with a 
scythe, as mowing machines do not work well on soft cultivated land. 
The succeeding crops are cut with a mowing machine or sweep-rake 
reaper. The highest yield per acre and the best quality of oil are 
obtained from the first year's crop. Sometimes, if the weather con- 
ditions have been very favorable, a second cutting is made. The 
yield of oil from peppermint obtained from the same Held sometimes 
varies very much, the condition of the atmosphere seeming to exert 
an influence upon it. as it is said that mint cut after a warm and 
humid night will yield more oil than that cut after a cool and dry 
night. It requires about 330 pounds of dried peppermint to produce 
J pound of oil. and the yield of oil from an acre ranges from 12 to 50 
pounds. 

If the mint crop has been grown on muck land, all that is necessary 
after the crop has been harvested is to plow up the land and turn the 
runners under for a new crop. If grown on upland, after the second 
year's crop is in. or. at the most, after the third year's harvest, the land 
is plowed and then given up to other crops. Peppermint exhausts 
the land, and it is necessary to practice rotation of crops for about five 
years in order to ptit the land in condition if it is desired to use it 
again for peppermint cultivation. 

After the plants are cut they are usually placed in windrows until 
they are dried, but are not allowed to become so dry as to permit the 
leaves to shatter off, and are then taken to the distillery. Some grow- 
ers believe that if the plants are allowed to dry there will be a smaller 
oil content owing to the escape of some of the oil into the atmosphere, 
and so have the plants brought to the distillery in the green state; 
but Mr. A. M. Todd ° is of the opinion that no loss of oil will result 



"Amer. Jour. Pharm., 60: 328-332 (1888). 



DESCRIPTION OF STILL. 11 

from drying', his experiments along this line showing that the dry 
plants can be distilled three times ;is rapidly as the green plants, and 
that a larger quantity of oil may be obtained. lie states thai 

To obtain the best results, both as to quality of essential oil and economy of 
transportation and distillation, the plants should be dried as thoroughly as pos- 
sible without endangering the loss of the leaves in handling. Distillation 
should then take place as soon as convenient to prevent the oxidation of the oil 
in the leaf by atmospheric action. 

The smaller producers, who have no stills of their own. have their 
mint crop hauled to the nearest peppermint distillery, where it is 
distilled for them at a cost of 25 cents per pound of oil. 

DESCRIPTION OF STILL. 

The apparatus used in peppermint distillation in the early years 
of the industry in this country consisted of a copper kettle, from 
the top of which a pipe connected with a condensing " worm." 
Water was placed in the kettle and the plants were immersed in it. 
and direct heat was applied to the bottom from a furnace. With 
such a still only about 1.") pounds of oil could be obtained from a 
charge. In 1840, large w T ooden vats were substituted for the copper 
kettles, and the plants were distilled by steam passing through them. 
The kettle formerly used as the still was now T employed to generate 
steam, a long pipe conveying the steam to the bottom of the vats. 
With this method of distillation from 75 to 100 pounds of oil could 
he obtained from a charge without much additional expense. 

A modern peppermint still (fig. ?>) may be briefly described as fol- 
lows: The apparatus required consists of a boiler, a pair of large 
circular wooden vats, a condenser, and a receiver. The boiler, of 
course, is used for the generation of steam. 

Two wooden vats are used in order that they may be filled and 
emptied alternately. These vats are about 6 feet high and about 
5 feet in diameter, with tight-fitting removable covers and perfo- 
rated false bottoms. Steam pipes are led from the boiler into the 
bottom of the vats. 

The condenser consists of a series of pipes of block tin, either 
immersed in tanks of cold water or over which cold water is kept 
running, the condenser being connected with the top of the dis- 
tilling vats. The condensed steam, together with the oil, flows into 
a metallic receiver, in which the oil, being lighter than the water, 
rises to the top and can be drawn off. 

The perforated false bottoms with which the vats are supplied 
permit the passage of steam. A strong iron hoop is placed about 
this false bottom, and two pairs of stout chains, which meet at the top 



12 



PEPPERMINT. 



of the vat in a pair of rings, are attached to it. After the charge 
has been distilled it is drawn from the vats by means of this arrange- 
ment. 

The plants are thrown into the vats and are closely packed by two 
or three men tramping upon them, and as the vat becomes about 
one-third full the packing is still further assisted by turning in a 
small supply of steam, which softens the plants. When the vat is 
filled the tight cover is replaced and a full head of steam turned on. 
In the largest distilleries the vats have a capacity of from 2.000 to 
3,000 pounds of dried plants each. 




Fig. 3. — Peppermint still. 



(After Dewey, in Bailey's Cyclopedia of American 
Horticulture. ) 



1. boiler; B, steam pipes leading to vats; (', valves for shutting off steam; D, mint 
packed in vat ready lor distilling; E. mint being lowered into vat; F, tight-fitting cover 
used alternately for both vats; (1, pipe from top of vat, joined at H so as to swing to 
other vat; J, perforated pipe, from which cold water drops over condensing tubes; K, 
supply pipe for cold water: I/, condensing pipes; A. outlet for condensed oil and water; 
O and P, water and oil in separating can ; /?, outlet for water ; 8, floor of distilling room. 

Large tanks are used for storing the oil, and cans holding 20 
pounds each arc cm ployed for shipping, three of these cans being 
placed in a wooden case. 

The peppermint hay which remains after distillation is used as a 
fertilizer or is fed to stock. 



PEPPERMINT OIL AND MENTHOL. 

Peppermint leaves and flowering tops are official in the Eighth 
Decennial Revision of the United States Pharmacopoeia, as are like- 
wise the following products and preparations derived from these 
parts: Oil of peppermint, menthol, spirit of peppermint, and pepper- 
mint water. 



EXPORT OF PEPPERMINT OIL. 13 

The United States Pharmacopoeia describes oil of peppermint as 
"a colorless liquid, having- the characteristic strong odor of pepper 
mint and a strongly aromatic pungent taste, followed by a sensation 
of cold when air is drawn into the mouth." It is largely used in medi- 
cine, internally as a stimulant and carminative, and externally to 
relieve neuralgic and rheumatic conditions. It is also used for flavor- 
ing and scenting confectionery, cordials, and cosmetics. There is a 
slight difference in the odor of white and black peppermint oil, the 
black being more pungent and less agreeable in fragrance than the 
white, which has a much finer odor, but. as already indicated, the 
white mint is less hardy than the black and yields a smaller quantity 
of oil. 

The Japanese oil of peppermint, which, as pointed out elsewhere in 
these pages, is obtained from a different species of mint than that 
Avhich produces the true oil of peppermint, is very inferior to the last 
named. It has a very unpleasant odor and a bitter, disagreeable 
taste, but it is a heavy oil and contains a higher percentage of menthol 
and, being a very much cheaper oil, it is liable to be used as an adul- 
terant of true peppermint oil. 

Menthol, formerly known as peppermint camphor, is the solid con- 
stituent of oil of peppermint, obtained by subjecting the distilled oil 
to an exceedingly low temperature by means of a freezing mixture. 
Its properties are about the same as those of oil of peppermint, only 
somewhat intensified. It is very largely made up into cones or pencils, 
which furnish a popular remedy, to be applied externally or inhaled, 
for the relief of headache, neuralgia, catarrh, asthma, and kindred 
affections. It is also largely employed in other forms of medication. 
The name ,w pipmenthol " has been applied to the menthol obtained 
from the American oil, to distinguish it from the Japanese menthol. 
Pipmenthol is said to have a distinct odor of peppermint, while the 
Japanese menthol has but a slight peppermint odor. 

EXPORT OF PEPPERMINT OIL. 

The exports of peppermint oil during the fiscal year ended June 30, 
1904, amounted to 42,939 pounds, valued at $124,728. Germany and 
the United Kingdom were the largest consumers, the former receiving 
22,372 pounds,. valued at $65,505, and the latter 11,558 pounds, worth 
$31,798. 

The following tables show the export of peppermint oil, by coun- 
tries, for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1904, and the quantities and 
values of peppermint oil exported for a period of ten years, from 
July 1, 1894, to June 30, 1904, inclusive : 



14 PEPPERMINT. 

Exports of peppermint oil, by countries, for the fiscal year ended June SO, WOJf.a 



Country. 



Quan- 
tity. 


Value. 


Pounds. 




473 


SI. 585 


3,054 


10,059 


22, 372 


65,505 


826 


2.471 


590 


1 . 934 


11,558 


31 . 798 


85 


234 


1.165 


3.306 


94 


204 


183 


700 


29 


87 


17 


;>.) 


20 


til 


1 . 237 


3,504 


10 


31 


50 


175 


1,176 


3,019 



Belgium 

France 

Germany 

Italy... __. __ 

Nethei lands 

United Kingdom 

Dominion of Canada: 

Nova Scotia. New Brunswick, etc 
Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, etc... 

Newfoundland and Labrador 

West Indies: 

British 

Cuba 

Danish 

Dutch 

Argentina. 

British Guiana 

Peru 

British Australasia 

Total 



42,939 124,728 



"The Foreign Commerce and Navigation of the United States for the year ending 
June 30, 1904, vol. 1. p. 531, Bureau of Statistics. Department of Commerce and Labor. 

Quantities and values of peppermint oil exported during the fiscal years 1895 

to 1904, inclusive." 



Fiscal year. 


Quan- 
tity. 


Value. 


Fiscal year. 


Quan- Vamp 
tity. v ame - 


1895 


Pounds. 
87,633 
85,290 


$194. 616 

174. SKI 


1900.. 

1901 

1902 


I'' in nds. 
s>i.55s s!in.:«i> 
60.166 63,672 
36 301 54 898 


1896 


1897 


162.492 257. 4S4 
115. 375 isn.sll 
117.462 


1898 


L904 


13 03:; 34 943 




12 939 124 72* 













"From 'I'lic Foreign Commerce and Navigation of the United Stales tor the year ending 
June 3i". 1902, vol. 2. p. 309, Bureau of Statistics. Treasury Department; and The 
Foreign Commerce and Navigation of the United States for the year ending June 30, 
1904, vol. 1, p. 192. Bureau of Statistics. Department of Commerce and Labor. 



PRICES OF PEPPERMINT OIL. 

The price of peppermint oil was very low for a few years prior to 
1900, the enormous production of 1897 resulting in a great drop in 
price. The lowest price paid for it was in 1899, when it brought 
only 75 cents per pound. As a result of the low price a great many 
mint farmers restricted the area of their mint plantations or alto- 
gether abandoned peppermint cultivation. The smaller output of 
the following seasons again sent prices up, and in 190*2 the oil sold 
as high as $4.75 a pound, which price was maintained until early in 
1903, when it gradually declined, until toward the end of that year it 
reached $2.20 per pound. 



PRICES OF PEPPERMINT OIL. 



15 



The following table" gives the highest and lowest prices of pepper- 
mint oil in hulk from 1873 to September 16, L905: 



Year. 


Highest. 


Lowest. 


Year. 


Highest. 


Lowest. 


Y.-.tr 


Highest. 


Lowest. 


1873 


S3. 15 
5. 25 
5.50 
3.75 
3.00 
2.00 
2.65 
:.'. 87 
2. 85 
2.50 
2.60 


S3. 15 
3. 75 
3.20 
2.40 
1.75 
1.50 

1 . 45 
2.60 

2. 35 
:>. 25 
2.20 


1884 

L885 

1886 

L887 

L888. 

1889 

1890 

1891 

1892.. 

1893 

1894 


13.00 
4.37 
3.60 
2. 75 
2.40 
2.30 
2.40 
2.50 
2.50 
2.45 
•>. 45 


$2.50 
2. 75 
2. 75 
L.90 
L.75 
L. 80 
L.80 
2. 45 
2. 15 
2. 15 
1.70 
1 


1895.. 

L896 

1897 

L898 

r.tiH) 

1901 

1902 

1903. 

1904 

1905*. .:.... 


$2.00 

1 . 85 

1 . :.':, 
.90 

.-.HI 

1.10 
L.80 
4.75 

4. 75 
3.75 
:;. 15 


SI. 70 

1 Jill 


L874 


L876 


.90 
80 


1877. 




1878 


80 


1879 


1 In 


L880 

1SS1 


l.lii 
2 20 


1882 


2 65 




2. 25 



* To September 16. 

The good prices of the past few years have caused many farmers 
to look again to peppermint as a profitable crop, as noted in increased 
areas under cultivation in many localities. This is the case not only 
in Michigan and Indiana, but also in New York, where for many 
years the peppermint industry has been declining. Thus, if favor- 
able conditions of growth prevail, an increased production may be 
looked for within the next few years, which Avill have the effed of 
again depressing prices. 

As is the case with other products the prices of which are subject 
to great fluctuations, the condition of the market for peppermint oil 
needs to be closely observed. The cost of cultivation per acre has 
been stated at from $12 to $14, and, with a charge of '2?) cents per 
pound of oil for distillation, the market price may easily fall below 
the cost of production. 

o From Oil, Paint, and Drug Reporter, September 18, 1905, p. 7. 



o 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



022 264 940 7 



